About my son

My son Julian was born on March 12, 2007. For almost 4 years, he was perfectly healthy. Literally, perfect. He never had antibiotics. He rarely even got a cold.

But in early February 2011, he developed a cough that he just couldn’t shake. Then, we noticed he was getting a lot of bruises, and they weren’t going away.

We took him to the doctor on February 16, 2011. Later that day, he was diagnosed with Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) and admitted into Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis. He had surgery and his first dose of chemo on Thursday, February 17.

For 15 days, the chemo did what it was supposed to do: it reduced the leukemia cells (“blasts”) in his bloodstream from 34% to 2%. But also killed off the white blood cells that would normally enable his body to fight infections.

On Thursday March 3, 2011, he developed a fatal infection and lost his brief but brave battle with Leukemia.

First of all, I’m very sorry for your lost, after reading your story and your son’s story I have tears in my eyes, thank you for sharing it. My partner lost her child 2 years ago, same diagnosis as your child, and when she was 5 she lost the battle. I’ve seen my partner struggle with his grief and I have been trying to become a better company, to love more, to listen more… There are good days as there are bad days as well, it’s difficult for me to understand his mood swings, his silence, he hasn’t been able to get his life back, and I see he has days where he becomes excited about the future and changes but at the same time scared and angry of having to let go the person he was. Its not easy to be in a relationship with someone who is grieving the lost of a child, but reading blogs like this is super helpful, it’s like recharging my spiritual batteries as dumb as it may sound. Thank you for sharing your story, I don’t know you but I just want to tell you I love you, this gives me hope, and I know my partner will feel the same. It may not get better, but it will get easier 💜